[Audio_Empire]

In article ,
wrote:

In the article there is a link to the kessler youtube mentioned below.
Apanel of audio folk discuss the current poor health of the audio biz and
customer decline. But in the article there is a small glimmer of light.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/25/ga...eeks.html?_r=0

Ken Kessler, a veteran audio journalist, summed up the industry's
problems last year at an audiophile conference in Denver. Speaking to a
roomful of mostly middle-aged men, he said: "In the '60s and '70s, if
you opened up Esquire or Playboy and they showed a bachelor pad, there
was a killer sound system in it. Now, there's an iPod dock."

Audio, as a hobby, is in decline because young people's tastes have
changed and therefore no new blood is coming into the hobby. Youngsters,
today don't actually care about listening to music any more. Nor do they
care about the quality of reproduction in the music that they DO hear.
Music has become, to a large extent, a commodity among the young. The
idea of sitting down and actually listening to music for the SOUND of
music has become passé. Sure, they want their iPod instruments filled
with as many songs as will fit and they pirate them, trade them and let
them play into their earbuds as a running, background obbligato to their
lives. Music plays as they jog, work out in the gym, even SWIM! Music
plays in their ears as they do homework, on the job, and I'm sure they'd
listen in class at school if the teachers would let them! It's like
they're hearing music more and enjoying it less. And I'm not
exaggerating either. A friend of mine has a 16-year old son. He's
physically attached to his iPhone. It would likely require a medical
operation to remove the earbuds from his ears. He listens constantly
around the house, only he's not *really* listening, he's doing other
things. The music is just "there". When asked why he and his peers do
that, his answer is "... if we have the music on, we don't have to
think."
His dad has a pretty good audio system. The kid can use it if he wishes.
Needless to say, he never touches the thing - has no interest in it and
can't understand what his dad sees in sitting down and actually
immersing himself in the sound of good music being well reproduced.
Not audiophile material, he.

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